Citrus Bowl

There’s thunder in them thar hills. Or, at least, the combined cacophony of a hundred barely-running cars squealing their tires and revving at full tilt. Once again, it’s the 24 Hours of LeMons, held this time at Thunderhill Park Raceway in Willows, CA. Once again, teams bring a car costing $500 or less (not including safety equipment) and duke it out for a bag containing what can only be described as 20,000 nickels. And once again, many of the entrant vehicles are old and of Japanese origin. Other than the mens’ room at the Minneapolis airport, where else are you gonna find good handling that cheap?

Take this photo, for example, which depicts a 280Z, BRE-themed Sentra, Mazda FC RX-7 and an outhouse, all vying for position. Lamentably, such mayhem also means mustard yellow Datsun B210s go from this to this. On the other hand, we like the Mad Max vibe (among other things) emanating from this Celica Supra, and dig this Isuzu I-Mark campaigned by our friends at Motoring J Style. Here’s a “before” photo.

Although teams pull all nighters to install a 3TC, it’s (mostly) good-natured fun with a dab of fierce competition. Perhaps when our budget allows, we’ll have a team JNC. Question is, what nostalgic should we hoon in the name of fun? In the meantime, thanks to the miracle of human progress, you can catch up-to-the-minute updates of the ensuing hilarity over at Jalopnik.